How lockdown is changing the dynamics of township families and informal economy – GG Alcock

South Africa's townships and the associated informal, Kasi economy have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown. So the government announcement that the lockdown will be eased starting May 1 comes as a welcome relief for informal sector guru GG Alcock, who warned at the beginning of the lockdown that it would be dangerous to deprive the informal sector from their livelihoods and placing people who now had to travel and stand in long queues at risk of contracting the virus. As a guest on Biznews' inaugural Rational Radio webinar, GG – who says he was named after a government truck, in fact a bulldozer – expounds how the loss in income and the increase in social grants will change the family dynamics of the tight-knit communities in SA's vast townships. – Stanley Karombo

It's a warm welcome to everybody who's attending our very first edition of Rational Radio, the webinar version. I'm Alec Hogg. In our virtual studio is GG Alcock. GG, we've spoken a little about the formal market. Let's talk about the informal markets. We did have that discussion over the weekend that we going from Level 5 to Level 4 from Ebrahim Patel, the economic affairs minister. What was interesting was that he was talking quite a lot about the informal sector, informal traders and so on. Was there enough in the to make you feel like we're getting on the right path again?

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